“No.” Taekwoon sat up. “No.”

Hakyeon carelessly folded his top into a loose ball and tossed it aside. Taekwoon watched with apprehension as his hands fell to his belt and he began unbuckling.

“Don’t you dare,” he growled. “Stop. Right now. Please.”

Hakyeon offered his cat a small grin.

“I’m bailing.” Taekwoon jumped out of the water and made a beeline for the door.

“Hey. Hey,” Hakyeon had swiftly slammed the door shut and activated the lock, trapping them both in here. “It’s okay. Lots of pet owners do this.”

“You’re not my owner and you don’t even know what I am.”

Hakyeon pulled out his belt and set it on the basin. “It’s just me in my primitive form.” He smiled and tapped the cat on the nose. “Just like you.”

“But I don’t want to see your balls-”

Too late.

Hakyeon pulled down his trousers and underwear in one motion and set the clothing aside.

Taekwoon wanted to peel his eyes away.

But he couldn’t explain why he didn’t.

“Let’s go,” Hakyeon suggested merrily.

Taekwoon gulped. Perhaps under all that black fur, the skin on his cheeks had turned red.

“No,” he hissed. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. He turned away and began clawing desperately at the door as Hakyeon watched on with amusement.

“You’re really not acting like a cat would,” he giggled. “You’re supposed to claw from outside begging the human to let you in.”

“I am not a ing cat and you will regret ever trapping me in here.”

“Hey, enough,” Hakyeon sang while carefully stepping into the tub. He waded around in the water for a bit, and then extended his palm out to the cat. “Come here.”

***********
 

There was no turning back.

Out of nowhere, he was turned into a cat. And just when he thought he had finally adjusted to a life like this, he was turned into a pet. It was as though Taekwoon’s life only got worst with time.

But life had to go on, didn’t it? And bathing with Hakyeon was only just the beginning.

Taekwoon lived his days sitting by Hakyeon’s desk. In the morning while Hakyeon was in school, he spent his time looking out of the window. Sometimes, he would catch a glimpse of the posters by the window grill. He wanted to stare at them, but he also didn’t want to. On some days he even had to restrain himself from clawing down the posters. They provoked him in many ways, but so did the many other things he needed to get used to.

Like how Hakyeon would always sing his songs when they showered. Although sometimes he thought Hakyeon had sung off-key, he still appreciated it.

Or like how Hakyeon always played his music in the background while he studied. Sometimes he wondered if Hakyeon listened to anything else. Because even Taekwoon himself was starting to get sick of listening to his own works.

Or like how Hakyeon always talked to him about how much he missed Taekwoon’s music. And how much he hoped the artist could return from his months-long hiatus. Taekwoon always felt the strong urge to roll his eyes. Because if there was anyone who was dying for Jung Taekwoon to be back, it was, well, Jung Taekwoon himself.

He realised that he seemed to take up a huge part of Hakyeon’s life, both as his pet and as his idol. Hakyeon was one lucky bastard who wasn’t even aware of how lucky he was. (And then there was Taekwoon, who was still living a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.)

Still, Taekwoon looked forward to the evenings. Sometimes Jaehwan and Wonshik would drop by, and that meant he had good stuff to eat. Although Hakyeon mostly stopped them from feeding him human food, he almost always benefitted from Jaehwan’s sneaky tosses. 

As the days passed, he figured that even if his life was miserable, maybe the presence of Hakyeon and his friends distracted him a little from that fact.

But still, his life wasn’t going to just get smoother like that. Because even if he flushed after he pooped or showered in a tub, slept in a bed or ate human food, he was ultimately still a cat.

And that meant he didn’t belong in Hakyeon’s room.

And they made sure he was aware of that.

It all began when he sensed another presence lurking outside the window one night.

“Sup,” Taekwoon spoke gently, suppressing the inclination to ask the cat outright what the it wanted.

“Why are you living like this,” Green Eye’s voice was laced with disbelief. He crept closer toward the window and eyed Taekwoon, then observed the ridiculous environment he was being kept in.

“Why not,” Taekwoon questioned nonchalantly. “Soft bed. Bathroom access. Good food.”

“Cats shouldn’t be living like a human.”

“I’m not even a ing cat to begin with,” he rolled his eyes. “Of course I’m living like a human.”

Green Eyes scoffed. “Exactly what happens when you mingle with them for too long. You start believing you’re one of them.”

“Oh?” Taekwoon cocked his head. “Tell me more, smart aleck.”

The cat fell silent for a moment. “You remind me of this guy I used to know.”

“What.” Taekwoon’s ears suddenly perked up. “Oh my god, another poor soul who got turned into a ing cat overnight?” He wasn’t being sarcastic. He was genuinely concerned.

“I don’t know what nonsense you’re spouting,” Green Eyes sighed. “But this cat used to live with humans too.”

“So it’s just a ing pet.”

“He was more than a pet. At least, that was what he believed,” the cat continued. “But that’s not the point. The point is that he ended up pretty…screwed up. And you will soon, too. Judging by the way you’re spending your days...with these two-legged things.”

Taekwoon tried to stifle his laughter. “Not all owners are abusive. Poor lad got unlucky.”

“He actually enjoyed his pet life as much as you are living yours right now. But even that was clearly the calm before the storm.”

“So he did have a pretty good time,” Taekwoon sniggered. “Now I see why you’ve been leering at me with such beautiful emerald eyes.” He smiled mockingly. “They’re green with envy.”

“You’re clearly not aware of the danger you’re letting yourself into.”

“Look,” Taekwoon sat up. “Labelling humans as a danger is a massive insult. To me.”

Green Eyes was getting impatient. “This isn’t just about hanging around humans. You’re hanging around unusually, exceptionally, dangerous ones.”

“…This is about that stupid danger scent again isn’t it.”

“Well I’m pretty sure I’d warned you against getting close to those two particular men.” The cat sat up agitatedly. “That scent’s exceptionally strong here. Why aren’t you picking it up??”

Taekwoon shrugged dismissively. “On Jaehwan and Wonshik, the only strong scent I'm picking up is body odour.”

“You’re really a tough nut to crack.”

“Nothing’s stopping me from getting access to food that is actually edible.”

“Even if you want to disregard the such threats, it’s still strongly inadvisable for you to continue life like this, around humans, in general.” The cat leant in closer to Taekwoon. “I really don’t want to see history repeat itself.”

“Well what exactly happened to that friend of yours that’s left you so ing traumatised,” Taekwoon questioned. “The worst thing in life that could have happened has already happened to me. Frankly, nothing scares me furth-”

“He died.”

Taekwoon responded with a condescending sneer. "Interesting."

The cat eyed him with utter contempt. “So are you sure you wanna end up so distraught that you take your own life like he did? Because I’m certain that’s going to happen if you go on like this.”

“Oh, but what a ing coincidence,” Taekwoon smiled. “Death happens to be just what I needed.”

“No it isn’t.”

Taekwoon pointed to himself with his paw. “There has to be a day when I can finally escape this hellhole of a stupid fur casing.”

The cat fell silent for a moment. “That...was what he said too.”

“Huh,” Taekwoon scoffed. “Seems like I’m not the first to be tired of this ing life.”

“There’s nothing shameful about being a cat.”

“Well if you were born a human you wouldn’t be thinking this way.”

“It’s exactly this. They look down on us so much that it’s stupid to want to be like one of them.”

“Well too bad,” Taekwoon sneered. He let his voice drop to a low whisper. “I just want to. And no one’s stopping me.”

The cat lowered its gaze. “Looks like none of this advice is getting in your head,” he sighed. “Another fool in the making.” He rolled his eyes and got up. “Do whatever you want.”

“I still don’t ing see how that makes me a fool.”

The cat had begun to march away from Hakyeon’s room into the deep shadows. “If fools are self-aware then they wouldn’t be fools, would they?” he yelled back.

Taekwoon sneered. “You don’t even ing know what I really am. If there’s anyone who’s a fool here, it’s you.”

“Well,” Green Eyes replied quietly from afar, not bothering to turn back. “If you don’t like the sound of that, maybe headstrong would be a better word. Though, I'd hate to admit that what describes you best,” the cat paused briefly in his tracks, "is the dreaded label Sanghyuk 2.0."